Nexans opens its first production plant in Russia

The new plant will be in operation in 2006 to produce power and telecommunications cables

Moscow, 26 September 2005 – At a press conference held today in Moscow, Nexans, the worldwide leader in the cable industry, officially announced that it will build its first plant in Russia. The new plant, specialized in the manufacturing of power and telecommunications cables, will allow Nexans to get closer to its customers, thereby strengthening its position as the leading foreign supplier of cables on the local Russian market. Six months after opening its third plant in China (in Shanghai), Nexans thus pursues its growth strategy on fast-developing markets.

Located in Uglich in the Yaroslavl region, 200 km away from Moscow, Nexans' first Russian plant will employ about 200 people. With a covered surface of approximately 12 000 sq.m, the facility will be dedicated to the manufacture of power and telecommunications cables.

This first Russian plant, which is expected to be in operation as from end of 2006, represents an upfront investment of about 20 million euros for Nexans. It will allow Nexans to increase its sales significantly on the Russian territory.

"With an annual growth rate in excess of 7 percent, the Russian cable market is rapidly expanding, as demonstrated by major infrastructure projects for both power and telecommunications networks, industrial facility upgrade programmes and the building market growth. Today, with this new plant, we have made the resolute choice to get closer to our customers and to offer them high value-added products and custom services," said Bruno Thomas, Executive Vice President, Rest of the World Area, for Nexans.

Nexans in RussiaNexans, which has been operating on the Russian market for more than a decade, has been involved in large-scale local projects. For instance, during the last few years, Nexans cables have been installed at the Zhiguli hydropower, on the offshore oil platform of Prirazlomnoe, at the Baikonur space launch pad and even on the Kremlin roof (heating cables).

Facing many local cable manufacturers, Nexans has chosen to focus on infrastructure cables, such as High and Medium Voltage cables for power utilities, special cables for the fast-developing Russian oil and gas industry, telecoms cables for LANs, and fibre-optic cables.

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About Nexans

Nexans is the worldwide leader in the cable industry. The Group brings an extensive range of advanced copper and optical fiber cable solutions to the infrastructure, industry and building markets. Nexans cables and cabling systems can be found in every area of people's lives, from telecommunications and energy networks, to aeronautics, aerospace, automobile, railways, building, petrochemical, medical applications, etc. With an industrial presence in 29 countries and commercial activities throughout the world, Nexans employs 20,000 people and had sales in 2004 of 4.8 billion euros. Nexans is listed on the Paris stock exchange. More information available on www.nexans.com